Sectional roll of knitted fabric.



PATENTED MAY 23, 1905.

F. B. WILDMAN.

SEGTIONAL ROLL OF KNITTED FABRIC APPLICATION FILED SEPT.10. 1903.

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amnwr @rrrca SECTlONAL ROLL OF KNITTED FABRIC.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 790,771, dated May 23, 1905.

, Application filed September 10, 1903. Serial No- 172,681.

To (1, whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANK B. VVILDMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at N orristown, Montgomery county, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sectional Rolls of Knitted Fabric, of which the following is a specification.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure lis a front view of the invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken centrally and vertically of Fig. 1. Figs. 3 and 1 are views of the product.

The tubular fabric from which the sectional rolls are to be formed after it leaves the knitting-head 1 passes between a pair of take-up rolls 2. Above these rolls a spreader 3 is located for making the tube assume a flat form, and between this spreader and the take-up rolls the cutting devices are located, consisting of a series of cutting-disks 5 on a shaft 9, driven through means hereinafter described. These knives cut the fabric into a series. of parallel strips, and these pass between the take-up rolls and thence downward between a second pair of take-up rolls 6. Upon leaving these latter take-up rolls the two series of strips formed from the opposite sides of the flattened tube are separated, one series being wound into a roll at the right of the take-up rolls 6, Fig. 2, while the other series are wound into a roll at the left of the said takeup rolls.

r he cutting of the knitted fabric into strips and the winding of said strips goes on continuously. I

The upper and lower sets of take-up rolls are driven from a gear 7 on an upright shaft 8, which is journaled in hangers or standards 9 9, extending down from the rotary part of the knitting-head and the rotary take-up plate, all of which parts revolve about the axial center of the machine, the gear 7 being rotated about its own axis and rotating the upright shaft by engaging a toothed ring or rack fixed to the fixed ring or frame of the machine, as at 10. The driving means between the upright shaft and the take-up rolls consists of the worms and worm-wheels 11 and 12 on the upright shaft and the shafts of the take-up rolls, respectively, said driving means being similar in its arrangement and function to that shown in Letters Patent of the United States No. 535,392, granted toA. McMichael and F. B. Vildman March 12, 1895.

The cutters are driven through a sprocketwheel 13 on the cutter shaft engaged by a sprocket chain passing over an upper sprocket-wheel 14:, the shaft 15 of which is journaled in a bracket 15 and carriesabevclgear 16, meshing with a bevel-gear 17 on the upright shaft.

The winding of the strips into the form of rolls is done by securing the ends of the strips in any suitable way to rollers or bars 18, carried in hangers 19, pivoted at 20 to the hangers 9. The rolls are turned through frictional contact with the lower set of take-up rolls. Just above the cutters a pair of guiderods 21 are placed, which guide the material to the cutters.

The mechanism above described forms the subject-matter of an application for Letters Patent of the United States of even date herewith.

The product resulting from the operation of the mechanism above described consists of a roll of knitted fabric made up of a plurality of sections arranged side by side, and while independent in one sense and capable of being separated from each other said sections are united by the fibers vof one section interlocking with the fibers of the adjacent sections, said fibers projecting as a result of the cutting of the knitted fabric into strips. The interlocking of the fibers results from the winding of the strips of fabric side by side, while they are maintained in the same relative position assumed by them after leaving the cutters, with their fibers intermeshing along the cut edges, and the superimposition of one layer of cut strip onto the other aids in uniting the sections together, because of the binding effect resulting from the winding of layer upon layer, each layer having its fibers projecting therefrom.

The roll of separate but united sections can be handled as one body and may be packed or shipped in this condition, and when a section is needed it may be separated from the rest of the roll by pressure exerted in a direction transverse to the line of juncture be tween the sections.

The term roll, as used herein, does not necessarily mean one of cylindrical form.

Fig. 3 represents the finished product, composed of the roll having the sections a b 0 united with each other by the interlocking fibers, and Fig. 4 is a diagram of the adjoining sections with intermeshing fibers.

Having described the features of the invention, what is claimed as new and useful is 1. The herein-described product consisting of a roll of knitted fabric composed'of sections separated transversely of the roll, the 

